Celiac and sleepaway camp

amother

Fri, May 10 2019, 5:51 am

My daughter has celiac but wants to go to sleepaway. Anyone sent their celiac child and what did they do? Camp said they would work with me bec it’s a new camp and new pots. Am I being realistic. I won’t be upstate to bring food.

amother

Lavender

Fri, May 10 2019, 6:43 am

my daughter has celiac. it never stopped her from doing anything. she brought gluten free items and ate protien, potato, rice fruit and veggies from camp. she asked if items were gluten prior to eating. no big deal. there are more gluten free girls around than you'd believe.

amother

Blue

Fri, May 10 2019, 7:19 am

saw50st8 wrote:

Camp Shoshanim is known to be celiac friendly. I have no first hand knowledge.

https://campshoshanim.org/shos.....tion/

No personal knowledge of celiacs, but my daughter LOVES Shoshanim. It is a fabulous camp with great activities and lovely girls. She has camp friends with all sorts of dietary restrictions, I one good friend has celiacs and my daughter had discussed it. She mentioned that they have available baked potatoes for lunch daily - and the non-celiac girls love when there are leftovers that they can melt cheese into them.

I don't know your haskafa or location, but I would recommend the camp, without hesitation, for your DD with celiacs.

FranticFrummie

Fri, May 10 2019, 9:03 am

Not specific to this situation, but I just love that camps these days are so incredibly sensitive to allergies and other diet restriction.

I sent DD to a 3 day camp when she was in public school. I also sent all of her meals double wrapped, and spoke to the kitchen. They totally understood, because they'd had Orthodox girls before, and Muslim girls, and vegan girls. The even completely kasher the kitchen one week in the summer for an all Orthodox camp, complete with rabbinical supervision.

It was such a relief to know that she could go and be a "normal kid" with all of her friends.

Chayalle

Fri, May 10 2019, 9:26 am

I have a friend whose DD has severe, life-threatening allergies (not celiac). She sent her DD to an older camp that has seen everything already, and she felt assured that they were experienced and could deal with her DD's needs. She also was able to send up packages regularly, as the camp staff had family members going back and forth for Shabbosim and willing to help out.

Hatzlacha to your DD!

amother

Plum

Fri, May 10 2019, 10:04 am

I have a dd with celiac who went to sleepaway camp for a few years. The first camp she went to had a special room for girls with dietary needs. They provided a fridge and freezer, and a microwave and toaster oven. We sent up a sandwich maker and a lot of frozen, single portion meals. The camp mother would cook pasta for my dd on her own stove and warm up her food when she needed an oven.

When she wanted to switch camps I called a few camps to ask about gf food. A couple camps told me they make sure to have gf options at every meal. The eggs, the salad, soup, chicken, there is always something to choose from.

She chose to go to Chayil and it was amazing. The cook was incredible, she discussed the menu options with her all the time to make sure she was happy and had what to eat. Chayil is a smaller camp, so in a big camp they probably can't be as accommodating, but some of them seem to try harder than others.

amother

Plum

Fri, May 10 2019, 10:07 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I just want to add that they don't need new pots, all you have to do is wash them well. I use the same pots all the time for my gf food and regular food.

Also, I wasn't either upstate, but I was able to go visiting day and replenish whatever she needed, so she didn't have to bring a full months supply of food.